St. Tammany Parish ignoring its land use plans: Letter to the editor

Alarmingly, the St. Tammany Parish Council is approving development projects that fly in the face of the 2025 land-use plan: approving a waste-transfer station in Lacombe, a high-density residential development with a canal to the Tchefuncte River and, most recently, in the heart of a predominantly A-1 zoned residential district in Covington, an old growth forest will be felled to make way for a high-density commercial development. Transparent disclosure of all proposed development plans were alarmingly absent.

At the Oct. 4 council meeting, a very vocal eruption occurred when concerned citizens were denied the ability to voice their opposition upon learning of the rezoning effort, only four days in advance of the final vote. The petitioner and council concealed it from the neighbors, including the chairman's own neighborhood homeowners association.

The council accepted the claim that no opposition to this project allowed them to approve it. We elect the council to serve as our representatives, to protect our material interests, and to manage and encourage good development. Reasonable restrictions might have made this a welcomed development -- now it is not.